Show 4 lie af arl MIN A W Y N f by ELMO SCOTT WATSON T I 1 IS doubtful if one amerlean american in ten could tell you who elkanah watson was or what lie he did that should make his namo name remembered yet about this time of the year millions of americans who live on the farms of our country pay homage to his memory unconsciously perhaps by attending tini and participating in an annual event which ils 43 as distinctively american as baso base iball or the fourth of july or thanksgiving day for elkanah watson was the father of tile the county air lair and it was due tf tc his persistence in promoting his bis idea more than it a hundred years ago that rural america and especially the youth of rural america can look jook forward each year to going to tho the fair insofar as the county fair air Is an institution which had a particular appeal to rural america it Is ia interesting te to note that its founder was it a city man for such was the case and it was a man tired of city life who retired to the country at the age of fifty years to enjoy rural felicity and falling failing to find it conc conceived elved the idea which resulted in the first real county fair now the idea of a fair itself Is not exactly a new one fairs have been employed in asiatic countries from irime for the purpose of i bringing traders and customers together for an exchange of their commodities tile the great distances to be covered by the asiatic merchant with his slow islow caravans the of population except in the cities and tho the wide j differences in language religion and social and trade customs made a fair a necessity of commerce especially among barbaric and peoples even in the european countries where fairs have been held for hundreds of years they were essentially affairs of at barter and trade so it remained for america where the competitive peti tive spirit Is so marked to give the idea of a fair a new meaning and to make it an exchange of ideas rather than an exchange of goods the first fairs of any sort held in this this country were those sponsored b by y dutch governors when new Kew york was now new Amiter amsterdam dam but they were modeled on the european plan in governor kleft established two fairs in new amsterdam one on oc stober 15 for cattle generally and the other on november 1 for hogs in 1048 there was also held in IB the dutch colony late in august and at the beginning of september a dutch kermess which was strictly commercial where the burghers met to exchange commodities the custom wits was continued even under english rule and as late as hail had the sanction of gov edmund andres but the county fair of today Is not a lineal descendant of 0 the dutch kermess although it may resemble it in some of its features it grew out of the interest la in agriculture which began 9 an to manifest itself early in the history of the new nation the leaders of ef that time such men as washington and jefferson were farmers and farming was tle the most important business in the country Beti between veen 1785 and 1792 agricultural societies sprang into being in pennsylvania maine now new york massachusetts and south carolina ns as evidence of the organized interest in agriculture these societies begin began offering prizes for superior farm products but they held field no fairs or exhibitions and really dij did but little to stimulate better farm production the principal interest seems to have been in live stock and in ISO 1 and 1805 three live stock exhibitions were held in washington at the second one members of congress began to tak taip 0 an interest and subscribed half of the fund which was raised and dis T 02 r tri tributes buted as prizes for the best lamb sheep steer cow jack oxen and horses actually sold in 1809 the columbian agricultural society was organized in washington and held an exhibition in tho the city of georgetown nearby but this was not the sort of tiling thing that appealed to the average farmer of the day for it was more or less a society event and as some one has said its attendance list rends reads more like the social register headed by the president of the united states and his lady and the cabinet mem bers 11 it remained for elkanah watson to originate a fair in which the common farmer would be interested because he could feel that he had a real part tn in it who he be iras and how lie he did this la Is described describe 4 in the volume Toi lers of land and sen sea in the yale university press pageant of america as follows elkanah watson wa not simons among tho the founders of the eighteenth century school of 0 agricultural experimenters and writers but he was its ita most moat distinguished pupil As an a business man he had traveled along alone the atlantic sen board and in europe in 1807 he gave up commerce and took up lip farming at pittsfield mass during the next four years he made his contribution to the development of american it agriculture ri culture by 1811 he had completed the organization of the berkshire agricultural society watson wrote in 1820 in the fall ot of 1807 1 I procured the first pair of cf merino sheep that had bad appeared in berkshire if not in the state I 1 was induced to notify an exhibition of these two sheep cheep under the great elm in the public square in pittsfield on a certain day many farmers and ven oven females were excited by curiosity to attend this first novel and humble exhIbIt exhibition ron it was by this lucky accident I 1 reasoned thus it if two tiyo animate are capable of exciting so BO much tt ht tent lon what would hould be the effect of a larger scale with larger ani animals malor the th farmers present responded to my re narka arka with approbation we became acquainted and from that day to tile tha present agricultural societies cattle shows and all in connection therewith have predominated in my mind the berkshire agricultural society was founded in 1811 the principles principle on nn which it was based proved popular slowly at first then more and more rapidly the Berksh berkshire lre cyst system spread until it reached west into th the e new states of indiana and illinois ani and f even penetrated the tha southern cotton kingdom unlike its predecessor th tho e societies of philadelphia it and new york it was an 7 ot of the common farmer in its time it served his interests well wat watson s on was a student or of human bunian nature the purpose of the 0 organization was to hold each year sin an exhibition c n of the best beat handl handiwork work and the b best t products of the farmers of the locality prizes were awarded for preeminence pre eminence eainer in farm animals and crops and in butter cheese and cloth rande in the home at the end of the exhibition came tw general assembly in n the largest v village church here amid impressive ceremonies the ho honors n ors were distributed each prize accompanied by a of distinction which handsomely framed hold held a place of honor on the wall of the farmers parlor watsons greatest problem was to arouse the active interest inhere t of the ladles ladies in these exhibitions the dirin diplomatic matic shifts to which ho he and others re sorted in 0 order t to win over the country women unaccustomed to activities outside their own homes homen and fearful of arousing comment by appearing appear lne in a public competition were finally everywhere where triumphant at the end of the beneral assembly come the at ball the whole plan was waa a skillful blend ot of competition social intercourse and dignified formality for twelve years watson labored endlessly to put his idea across by 1810 with the aid of governor clinton of new york he had induced the legislature of that state to pass an annual appropriation of to aid the now new societies anufrom and from that time on the idea spread rapidly and as the writer in the pageant of america previously quoted says the direct descendant of watsons berkshire hysten la Is the county fair unlike the ancient fairs of europe or those t ose of early colonial days its central 1 t I purpose Is not to facilitate exchange and sale but to exhibit the bes beet exi products and handiwork of the locality and to stimulate improvement by offering prizes horse races and a host of other attractions have added to its interest and excitement from one day it has grown to three and four country folk drive in from miles around to look at the stock in their sheds and the produce on exhibition in the fair house and to watch the demonstration of improved machinery the merry go round plays its strident tunes the ferris wheel swings round its lotty lofty circuit the barkers for the sida shows shown bawl of the mysteries or the amusements within their tents yards ot of the inevitable taffy are arc consumed as acquaintances quain from distant corners of the county meet and gossip and separate in the ever changing crowds that move over the grounds gro unda it has become the farmers carn carnival lyal far removed indeed from that first exhibition when watson displayed his two merino sheep under the elm tree in the twentieth century the automobile has again brought changes farmers come from the distant counties and with them crowds of city people tho the fair Is no longer merely a farmers institution today it is estimated that there are more than agricultural fairs held annually in this country including tle town county state national and internal international dional exhibitions some specialize in live stock some soine in dairy products some in poultry some in bees in garden truck and others in field crops but the greater part of them are the general county fairs which ore are held in august and sep septem her most of them now are in the middle west for new england where the fair originated los fins lost its leadership in number and importance of 0 its fairs but even though modern conditions have changed the county fair in many respects respect i essentially it Is the same as it has fins been for the last half century or more for this institution has an appeal which no other annual vent event in american life has and nothing ever cnn ann or likely will take its place so the next nest time you spend a day at the county fair and enjoy the pleasures which only it can furnish just give a thought for a mome that yankee of yankees who wat was born within rifle shot of plymouth rocc 11 El Elk anali hamili watson and be grateful alit he was willing to spend twelve bearo of ills his life popularizing no an idea which won for hira him the title of father of the county fair |